The Hammersley's Story
by The Brunette Bullet Girl
Summary: The Hammersley is on a mission to bring two hearts together in the most unusual of ways! Co written with one of my friends who is also my beta reader! Thanks heaps Zoey! Mike/Kate Humor/Romance/Fluff
1. Introduction

**The Hammersley's Story**

HMAS Hammersley, Armidale Class Patrol Boat.

Naval officers came and went from this naval patrol boat, but the Hammersley had remained the same, more or less over the years. But as the saying goes "If these walls could talk", but if they could, the interesting stories that the Hammersley would tell.

Not just the stories of the general day to day operations, the boarding's, attacks, the frustrating endless searches for people who had fallen overboard in storms, discussions over meals, strong coffee, the endless paperwork that had to be filled in after each boarding or the endless tasks that occupied the sailors aboard the Hammersley. That was pretty straight forward, some days dull, others exciting, but nothing was ever the same.

But the stories of some of the sailors, for instance, Lieutenant Commander Mike Flynn and Lieutenant Kate McGregor, the brilliant duo of the Hammersley crew, was different. Mike and Kate worked brilliantly in each other's company, bantering and flirting, but never anything more; well not that anyone else knew.

Except for the Hammersley. She was the only one who would ever know their secret that they thought they had buried 5 years before...

Until now.


	2. Scene 1 Re Meeting

Scene 1 – First Re-Meeting

I felt a set of unfamiliar boots walking down my hallways. They were small boots, but they had a stride about them; a stride of authority, and they were graceful in the way they moved. Grace in the form of a woman, I noted, when I finally saw the striking blonde that owned said boots in the reflection of a mirror.

I could feel the large boots of another person I knew all too well, walking in the direction of the small woman's. Both sets of boots came closer, before the larger pair rounded the corner and knocked into the smaller ones, sending them tumbling towards the floor.

"Are you okay?" came the surprised voice of large boots.

I could feel small boots picking herself up off the floor, and holding onto the railing on my walls.

"Kate?" said large boots, shock resounding in the tone of his voice.

"Mike?" The same shocked facial expression was repeated on small boots' face, or as I now knew her as, Kate. I preferred small boots.

I could sense the tension between the two, and oh boy... there was something between them that was slightly amiss.

"Ahh, look Kate, I never got a chance to speak with you... privately... since you joined us." Mike started.

"No," replied small boots.

"When we last met on the course, I never expected that we'd end up on the same ship, you being a large ship sort of person, me being wedded to patrol boats."

"Yes you're right, I am... a big ship sort of person," small boots said thoughtfully, a wooden smile on her face.

"Yes," Mike said, smiling.

"As for anything else... that might have happened between us, I'm sure that two professionals can work together..." small boots said, looking at Mike, adding a curt "Sir." to the end of her sentence as an afterthought.

"Yes, I'm sure," Mike replied, a slight waver in his voice.

I felt small boots walk away from large boots towards her cabin as large boots set off towards the bridge.

* * *

I felt the vibration of small boots as she flopped onto her rack and sighed into her hands.

"Why me?" A sigh.

"Why him?" A groan.

"Why this ship?" Another groan.

"Bloody hell," she cursed.

At that moment I felt Nikki, or Nav as everyone called her, walk into the cabin that she was now sharing with small boots.

"Bad day?" Nav joked, walking over to where small boots was.

A groan was all that Nav got out of her as I felt small boots' boots hit the floor with a thud.

"Oookay..." Nav said as she left the cabin, leaving small boots to sulk.

_tbc..._


	3. Scene 2 4th Week At Sea

Scene 2 - 4th Week at Sea

I felt a warm hand resting on the railing at my bow. A small warm hand connected to a set of small boots. I knew these small boots. It was Kate.

I heard her sigh as she looked out across the vast expanse of ocean in front of us. It was sunset, the most beautiful thing I loved to watch besides sunrise, which was spectacular yet.

"Here," said a voice; Mike's voice. "Coffee," he added, handing her a mug.

Kate looked up at him, accepting the offered white mug and taking a sip. I watched as her face light up, a smile forming on her features.

"You remembered?" I heard her say sheepishly, ducking her head, hiding the colour that coloured her cheeks.

"Always will, Katie." Mike said softly. I had heard him talking in his sleep about a mysterious woman named Katie. What this that Katie he had been dreaming of? Hmm...

I saw as Mike averted his attention away from Kate, realising that he had embarrassed her. He rested his hip up against my side and focussed his gaze on the scene before him.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Mike said, taking another sip of his coffee.

I saw Kate bob her head slightly in the universal sign of yes. "Mmmmm, it is... very beautiful."

Silence reigned then, but it wasn't an awkward moment. Both enjoyed the peace, away from the hustle and bustle inside. Little did they know that I had concocted a plan that would stir things up and destroy their bubble of amiability.

It took a lot of work, pitching and tilting at the right angle, to get it to its final destination of the CO's cabin that night. But it was finally there, waiting for him when he finished watch. Now to sit back and let the trouble begin…

* * *

I felt a weary Mike drag his feet along my floor as he made his way to his cabin, after a long and uneventful watch. He was so sleepy, he didn't bother to turn the lights on, and was planning to sprawl into his rack and fall asleep. But my carefully placed obstacle was in the way of his fatigued limbs, and he promptly fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes. This woke him up, and the lights were on within seconds. Seeing the source of his clumsiness, he let out a confused huff and picked up the object.

* * *

"Hey Nik," Kate smiled tiredly the next day as she entered the cabin the two shared. The Lieutenant looked up and said a quick "Hey," before turning back to her book. "Been a long day, hasn't it?" Kate sighed as she sat down at the desk. A hum of agreement was her only reply, and Kate shook her head. Whatever she was reading, it had to be interesting; it was the only thing she talked about when they had spare time.

If I could have smiled deviously, now would have been the time to do so. 'Let the fun begin,' I thought, as I watched Kate's eyes search the top right-hand corner of the desk, where the missing item was usually located. With furrowed eyebrows, she started lifting up inch-thick files, and rifling through loose sheet of paper. Next came the drawers, and they were a suitably chaotic mess by the time she finished searching.

Kate stood up suddenly, although Nav was oblivious to the movement. She frantically rummaged through my cupboards, leaving her heaving with breath, and still empty handed. Casting one last eye over the now disorganised clutter around their cabin, she spoke.

"N-Nik? Have you seen my diary?"

This only brought the brunette to raise her head a few centimetres, her eyes still not leaving the black print on the page of her book.

"No, sorry. What does it look like?"

"It's black, leather bound, has my name on the front cover in gold...?" Kate trailed off, obviously expecting the worst. 'Ask and you shall receive,' I thought smugly, as Nav denied seeing it.

* * *

Meanwhile, our favourite captain had foregone sleep as he, like Nav, found himself engrossed in a book. A very interesting book that provided a lot of insight; a black, leather bound book with a single word in gold calligraphy on the front. Kaitlin.

* * *

My plan came to fruition the next day, as the two officers were left on the bridge by themselves.

"Kate, uh… I think I might have something of yours," Mike started, keeping his eyes firmly on the sea in front of him.

"Hmm? What?" Kate asked, genuinely curious.

Mike took a deep breath, bracing for the explosion he knew was going to come. "Your diary."

The smile from Kate's face was instantly wiped as she did a double- take, processing the three syllables he just spoke. Almost comically, she did a slow half turn to face him.

"You have _what?_" she fiercely intoned.

"You heard me."

"How, might I ask, did that certain possession end up in your hands, sir? Because, last I remember, it was in _my_ cabin, not yours. Which would mean that you would have had to go into my cabin, uninvited," she finished accusingly. His surprised millisecond's silence she misinterpreted as a guilty one, and her anger boiled. "I can't believe you would stoop so low! To actually go into my cabin, when you know you aren't welcome, and take my diary, is just—you're just… _vermin_," she spat.

Mike slowly raised his hand, with the black book in question. She pushed past him, grabbing her diary along the way. Between her angry face and Mike's confused one, I was ready to burst out laughing- in the form of creaking, of course.

I felt the thudding of her boots as she stormed down towards her cabin followed by the door opening and a low growl come from her throat. "Nikki. Out."

"What? Why?" Nikki interjected.

"Nikki get out, _now_!" She growled again. O-Oh Oh... maybe I shouldn't have don't what I did.

"X, this is my cabin too. You can't just kick me out," Nav said, nostrils flaring. That was nothing to Kate's defensive stance, practically radiating 'pissed off'.

"Nav, may I remind you that I am of a higher position, and what says, goes. Or would you like to be up for insubordination charges?" Kate coldly said.

I heard Nikki mutter something under her breath before Kate exploded.

"GET THE FUCK OUT!" Kate yelled, going over to Nikki and grabbing her forcefully and pulling her to the door, still yelling. "IF I TELL YOU TO GET THE FUCK OUT, YOU GET THE FUCK OUT!" She roared, slamming the door, letting some steam off on my unsuspecting person.

I felt her slide down my door and sit on the floor, followed by the sounds of a strangled sob and tears hitting my floor. A sudden movement came to my notice, and then the feel of her diary, or what I assumed was her diary, hit my far wall. I guess I really upset her by 'taking' her diary and putting it in Mike's cabin.

* * *

I felt Nikki's boots run along my hallway and up towards the bridge where Mike was sitting, slightly alarmed by the yelling coming from Kate and Nikki's cabin.

I felt Nikki stop quickly in front of Mike, before saying quickly "Sir, you'd better get down there and see what her problem is."

Mike didn't need to say anything as his boots hit my floor to quickly make their way down towards Kate's cabin.

Descending the stairs, I felt him stop, before he yelled at everyone who had been in ear shot of Kate's explosion to get back to what they were doing before his came up to the front of Kate's door.

I felt his knuckles rap on the door before he spoke.

"X... Kate, let me in, I need to speak with you."

No answer. He tried again, and I felt even guiltier, thinking that I had officially ruined it for them.

"Lieutenant, this is an order, open the door," he said, putting on his best officer's voice.

I felt Kate move from within and open the door, side stepping, allowing Mike to step in, before closing the door behind him.

I felt Mike shift uncomfortably from foot to foot before he spoke up. "Listen Kate, I'm really sorry that I read your diary." He casted his gaze downwards before continuing. "I know it was wrong of me to read your personal diary and I have no excuse as to why I did it."

Kate's glare was as cold as ice, and I could feel the icy tension in the room.

"Your bloody right there, you had no right what so ever to read it," she growled.

I felt Mike shift again.

"I'm really sorry Kate, I am," he finished, and I felt him shift again. I swear he had ants in his pants.

Kate's tone softened somewhat as she said "How much of it did you read?"

Mike's gaze shifted to anywhere but Kate's face. "I couldn't read past the part where I left you all those years ago," he said so quietly that I wasn't sure I had heard him correctly.

I saw a tear fall down Kate's face in the reflection of the mirror on the back of the bathroom door.

Mike moved closer to Kate, before he cautiously wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her to his side.

"I'm sorry Katie," he whispered, the next part he whispered so quietly I wasn't sure I heard him correctly. "If I had known, I would have never had left you."

I saw as she looked up at him, surprise written over her features.

"_25__th__ June, 2004._

_Dear Diary,_

_Mike left me six days ago, he left without even saying goodbye, if you call a letter he wrote and left on my pillow the night we made love together for the last time goodbye. I know that I shouldn't be this this stressed out with the baby and all, but my heart is broken._

_I cried myself to sleep last night and the nights before, but I wasn't as distraught as I was a few days ago, because I knew that I still had a piece of him within me._

_His child._

_I knew that I would love our child no matter what, even if it meant leaving the navy._

_I should be getting off to bed now,_

_Good night,_

_Kate."_

_*Flashback*_

_I watched as Mike sat on his rack, reading Kate's diary, a few tears falling down his cheeks as he closed it, clutching it to his chest as he let the tears fall down his cheeks._

"_Oh god, Kate," I heard him whisper. "I'm so sorry, Katie, so sorry."_

_*Flashback*_

"_27__th__ June, 2004._

_Dear Diary,_

_My world shattered around me today, I lost the only thing I had of Mike left, the only thing that I truly cared for._

_The doctors said it was a combination of stress and lack of proper sleep that caused it._

_Caused me to miscarry._

_I'm hollow inside. I don't think that I can go on any more._

_Kate"_

I heard Mike's voice falter as a few tears slipped down his cheek as he clutched Kate to his chest, her sobs echoing off my walls as she clutched onto Mike for dear life.

Oh no, I should have never had done that, not truly knowing the implication of my actions as I looked at the grieving pair.

* * *

Kate had calmed down in the hour that they sat in her cabin and chatted, me listening in on their conversation.

I felt Mike get up and head for the door, before turning around and smiling softly, saying softly."And Kate?" I heard her sniff, before she looked at him.

"Yes?"

"I don't snore any more," He replied, Kate's face held a note of confusion.

"The answer to your question." He motioned to the diary, and my laughter burst forth. I had successfully gotten them to re-connect, and all with a few pages of paper.


	4. Scene 3 A Routine Boarding

**Scene 3 – A Routine Boarding**

As usual, I watched from afar as the RHIB left my side and sped towards the FFV. I was hoping it would be a quick boarding; then, I could go back to scheming. But as I eyed off the vessel, I got this feeling in my engine room; the funny feeling where you just _know _something is going to happen.

I watched as Kate jumped aboard, followed by Buffer and then the rest of the boarding party, as always. It was routine. They rounded up the fisherman, started questioning them, and it looked like we would soon be on our way in another direction. Until I saw the man up on around the front of the boat, hunched over and playing with something. Zooming in on the EOD, I let out a gasp of steam. He had explosives, and my crew didn't know.

Standing up, the man smirked, satisfied. I felt dread overcome my cold metal pipes, and in a sudden moment of clarity knew what was going to happen. Unknowingly, I let out a loud hoot of my horn, but didn't regret it; the X looked up, sensing something was wrong. Mike also reacted, finally spotting the loose man.

"X, get off that boat immediately. There are explosives, I repeat, there are explosives," he ordered, authority carrying across the radios.

I watched she rapidly started getting the boarding crew off the boat an into the RHIB, but it was too little too later as I watched in horror as the cabin on the FFV exploded in a ball of flames. Not a small fire, or minute boom, it was a loud, structure-shaking explosion that sent a fireball in the air, to be haloed by a ring of smoke. I saw people getting flung, like rag dolls, from the FFV, and I saw a few sailors, including Kate, get thrown by the force of the blast off the boat.

I watched, limps flailing, as they landed in the water with giant splashes. A few ducked around the side of the cabin as the flames blew outwards.

My hull went cold when the smoke cleared. I saw the form of Kate floating face down in the water, her helmet still secured to her head.

I felt the second RHIB being deployed to help those who needed help in the water. I watched as it pulled along side Kate, two sailors pulling her lifeless form on the RHIB, and the medic, Swain, worked quickly to get her breathing again.

I couldn't help but let a long sigh of steam out as I saw her splutter up water. She was alive. And I was happy.

Mike copied my movements, also sighing with a large smile on his face.

Now that the drama was over, I thought about my previous assumptions and mentally smacked my hull. I decided I had learnt my lesson; I would never use the 'r' word again.


	5. Scene 4 Non Existent Waves

**Scene 4 - Non-existent Waves**

**A/N:** I hated to use Nav as the 'interrupter', but it seems like that's her permanent job; no one else fitted :p

You would have thought that after life threatening situations, they might be able to admit their feelings. Near death experiences usually did that for people; but no, not Mike and Kate. If anything, they were even more reluctant to show emotion. So I decided to give them a little nudge in the form of physical contact. If they couldn't admit they loved each other, maybe they could admit they lusted for each other. And what better way to do that than to force them into a situation with close contact?

My difficulty was in execution. I needed to find the right time and place. And make sure Kate wasn't in a mood to blow something up; it wouldn't end well for me. Just one little mistake on my behalf could send them spiralling back to square one, all my hard work wasted in a seconds' lapse of judgement.

My moment came in the form of a debriefing in the CO's cabin after a successful boarding. Kate was cheerful she had rid Australia's waters of yet more filth, and Mike was just happy to have her back, safe on the Hammersley. As Kate got up to leave, Mike also rose to his feet, trailing behind her. She turned to give a final word, and I pitched violently on a non-existent wave, sending her sprawling towards Mike.

They ended up on the floor, breaths mingling as they froze from shock. I mentally crossed my fingers, excitement building as they moved infinitesimally closer together. They were so close, and I hoped against all hope that this was it; the moment I had been waiting for since Kate's determined step sounded on my decks for the first time and I realised their potential relationship. The next thrum of my engine brought them even closer, and I knew this was it.

"CO to the bridge, CO to the bridge," a female voice sounded.

Springing apart, the duo frantically fixed themselves, brushing down hair and uniforms. A brief, awkward look was exchanged before Kate hightailed it out of the room. After a few seconds of sighing and running his hand through his hair, Mike squared his shoulders and followed her, and as he did I mentally added another to the tally of missed opportunities to admit their feelings. I was so disappointed, they'd been so close, just another second and it would have been a kiss.

I rolled my eyes, not that I really did have eyes, more like mirrors and cameras, maybe I should have pitched harder; at least then Nav might have gone overboard.


End file.
